Elden Ring’s DLC could take players somewhere they wouldn’t have thought of. There are quite a few obvious locations for the DLC’s setting, but there’s one possibility that isn’t so straightforward and has some pretty intriguing narrative implications. Despite not being immediately apparent, Elden Ring already presents the means to get to this location, a curious magical element that is only used once in the entire game.
Elden Ring offers several potential DLC settings with its open-ended storytelling. The dreamworld of Miquella is perhaps the biggest contender, but areas outside Elden Ring’s The Lands Between are also plausible, such as the Badlands or the Land of Reeds. Given the game’s popularity, it stands to reason that multiple expansions could be released, each focusing on one of these settings, though this hasn’t been confirmed. Yet, one possible setting remains, The Lands Between. Despite being the setting of the main game, it could also be used as Elden Ring’s DLC area, but in a different way than players might expect.
Elden Ring’s DLC May Use Time Travel
Elden Ring’s DLC could take players back in time to the distant past of The Lands Between. Time travel already exists in some form within the game, which players experience to access the Elden Ring‘s secret Dragonlord Placidusax boss fight. It isn’t clear how this magic works or how far back in time the player is taken, making it an easy device for transporting players to the same area seen from a drastically different perspective. More evidence for this possibility comes from FromSoftware’s history of implementing time-travel elements in their previous expansions, such as in Dark Souls’ Artorias of the Abyss DLC and, more confusingly, Dark Souls 3’s The Ringed City DLC.
What The Tarnished Could Do In Elden Ring’s Past
The story implications of Elden Ring’s future DLC being set in the past are expansive. The Lands Between are much older than it may seem, so there are plenty of time periods that could be covered. The Shattering is a notable era on Elden Ring’s timeline from before the game that could be explored, as this could potentially throw the Tarnished into the war between the demigods. Admittedly, though, doing so would probably entail fighting some of Elden Ring’s main bosses again, and the game already has a minor issue with re-used enemies, so FromSoftware would be wise to steer clear of this. The period leading up to The Shattering, however, would be more intriguing to visit.
Setting Elden Ring’s DLC before The Shattering opens the potential for players to come face-to-face with some of the game’s most important but absent characters. Godwyn the Golden and the true form of Ranni are good candidates, but the best would be Queen Marika herself. It would be exciting to see her at the height of her power and rage against the Greater Will. Perhaps this could also answer lingering questions about her and the vague details in Elden Ring’s bottomless lore.
If either of these possibilities truly ends up being the setting of Elden Ring’s DLC, it would give FromSoftware the opportunity to expand upon a time travel device the studio first employed in the original Dark Souls. Players can interact with a young version of Great Grey Wolf Sif in the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, a boss from the main game. If the DLC is completed before encountering the beast in the main story, a new cinematic plays where Sif recognizes the player. This idea has boundless potential in Elden Ring since so many characters from the main game were around before The Shattering.
Source: Bandai Namco/YouTube
